The following review was written by me in Jan 2003. I have given my comments on the product below. I request all mouth-shut community to kindly consider my opinion. Mountain Dew is just not worth it.
Now, As an addenda, I wish to add one additional point.
This is with regard to the advertisement of the Mountain Dew. The Advertisement for consumer products are slowly becoming an assualt on our intellect.
In general, Advertisers have always tried to avoid mentioning the plus points of the product, but play on the emotions and the ’image’ of the product on the public. You are inferior and incomplete if you don’t have my product.
On this score, the Advertisement for the Mountain Dew surpasses on the absurdity. It assumes that all viewers are complete morons, who have no brain what so ever. The person in the ad chasing Cheetah and pulling the can out of the mouth of cheetah. What does it try to convey to you? That cheetah also likes Mountain Dew. Or, You are so desparate as to extract it from the jaws of cheetah also. What does it convey to us about the product? Why should I buy it because cheetah runs away with it.
Friends, Drinking Mountain Dew is an acknowledgement that you are a complete and incurable moron. Avoid that temptation.
Rest of my original review follows.
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The test is whether this product will do the job, what we expect from it. That is giving a quench-thristing and good tasting drink while being good on health.
I think Mountain Dew is a major loser in all these counts. I have been discussing and interacting with many softdrink consumers and also with vendors. So, My conclusion is based on studied analysis and not on first impressions alone...
The taste of Mountain Dew is after careful (need I say multi million dollar) research into American tastebuds. This is to pit Pepsi against Sprite / Minute Maid Soda of Coco-cola. The taste is individual’s opinion. We can’t ’Review’ that. If you like it, You like it. If you don’t, No arguments to that also... But, Pepsi cola itself admits that mountaindew is not a hit in India.
Perhaps, the taste buds here are different.
Medically, the ’liking’ of the taste has more to do with its addictive property. (Even chilly has got this property. That is why people go back to hot food often).
I would suggest that we should start drinking water or fruit juice. The taste of water on a thristy mouth is wonderful. Once, You appreciate that, You will never go to the soft-drinks, mountain-dew included..
Personally, I don’t like the taste. It also leaves somewhat bitter after taste hanging in the tongue for some time..
’The sweetier the better’ - marketing decisions are aimed at attracting children and teen-age groups, Who prefer such tastes.
Now, If you examine, What mountain Dew offers inside the bottle, You will be realising the minus points. All softdrinks itself are nothing but liquid sugar.. An average 300 ml bottle contains about 40 grams of sugar.. That is 10 spoons of sugar. Would you ever eat 10 spoons of sugar at once? Maybe, Other readers who ’recommend’ this do not have children in their home.
But, Mountain Dew is worse than the average. The bottle contains 46 grams of Sugar. The second worst in the group. Even normal coco-cola and pepsi contain much less. That implies mouthing 12 spoons of sugar at once. This high sugar content is bad for many things (a) appetite will vanish slowly (b) obseity (c) junk food (d) teeth problems (e) slow metabolism - less active mentality..
By comparison, Our daily recommended sugar intake for healthy diet is only 10 grams of sugar.
Second big problem in softdrinks, especially mountain dew, is the strong caffeine added to the drink. I still don’t know why caffeine is added to the drink, except to make this drink addictive. This forces you to keep coming back to that. This is drugging the children and teen-agers. I am surprised that no legal rule prevents this... Among the softdrinks in India, Mountain dew contains the highest caffeine amongst drinks (55 milligram per bottle). Pepsi cola’s other product Pepsi One also shares this dubious distinction.
Drinking 1 soft drink per day, especially mountain-dew, will definitely remove any other healthy benefit you may be taking...
The worst performance of Mountain-Dew doesn’t stop here. It contains the second highest calorie content in the bottle - 165 calories per bottle. Even pepsi contains only 150 calories. This will mean you have had one nice breakfast extra.. This is unwanted calorie without any vitamins or so...
One more practical thing. pepsi declares the shelf life of Mountain-Dew as 3 months. It is really 1 1/2 or 2 months. Also, generally bottles are dated about 15 days ’in advance’ of real manufacturing date. (This is done by taking recourse to one stupid packing rule. More on that later). So, Effectively, You should ensure that the bottle is within one month of manfuacturing date.
From my personal experience, I have found that generally, atleast in interior places and general provision shops, the bottle is already expired. This is because the brand is not well known and therefore moves slowly.
I have seen people selecting the ’coldest’ pack from the cooler, which is the ’oldest’ stock...
The danger of such ’minority’ brands is that you are more likely to consume expired drink. this is dangerous and will upset your stomatch. the last thing you want on a trip or a holiday... So, Check the date before you open the seal. Don’t use the straw as that is more likely to be dirty..
Another major problem with softdrinks, in total, is that they slowly make you hate drinking plain water / fruit juice, because they are ’natural’ tastes and are not artificially flavoured. This is the worst danger for children. You are slowly making them attach to artificial or enhanced tastes only. Once get used to that, It is almost impossible to change their taste buds for their life (See the smokers and fat consumers, who are struggling to give up the habit...) So, You should realise that your actions are going to be imprinted for ever..
So, Whenever you ’reward’ your kid with soft drink, Please remember that you are hitting another nail in their healthy-eating preferential mentality. This ’chalta-hai’ should stop with us and don’t train your children also to ignore any rule in Life..
My conclusion is therefore : Drink plain water or fruit juice. Finding a good fruit juice on the road is difficult. So, Stick to water.